Sorting the Wood from the Trees

A GAME for 2, 3 or 4 players.

How to Play:
Pick up the set of situation cards and give them a good
shuffle. Place the cards face down and take turns to pick one.
Read out each card.

You have to cover a tree on your board with a stump card,

when you pick a deforestation card or take a stump off the
tree for protection cards. If you have no stumps on your board
you can take another tree card.The winner is the person with
most trees visible on their board at the end of the game.

An area of forest in Costa Rica is

cleared to make way for farming
with a new coffee plantation. They
are going to use “slash and burn”
techniques as they want the land
quickly.
Lose 2 trees

Ecotourism to the forest areas of

Kenya provides money so that
local people don't have to sell their
trees. It helps sustainable
development.
A Swiss company worked to find
new exotic smells in Madagascan Gain a tree
forests and shared the profits with
local communities for conservation
and development initiatives.
Gain 2 trees

http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf
Sorting the Wood from the Trees
This activity was developed by Olivia Howe from Channing School in 2010

http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf

This activity was last updated 16th February 2015

Collaborative Learning = Oracy in Context

makes challenging curriculum accessible.
improves social relations in the classroom.
provides scaffolding for exploratory talk.
Basic principles:
1. Build on prior knowledge.
2. Move from concrete to abstract.
3. Ensure everyone works with
everyone else.
4. Extend social language into
curriculum language.
5.Provide motivating ways to go
over the same knowledge more
than once.

Good for all pupils!

Vital for EAL pupils!

If you can’t talk it, you won’t be able to write it!

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING PROJECT
Project Director: Stuart Scott
We support a network of teaching professionals to develop and disseminate
accessible talk-for-learning activities in all subject areas and for all ages.
17, Barford Street, Islington, London N1 0QB UK Phone: 0044 (0)20 7226 8885
Website: http://www.collaborativelearning.org

http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf
Sorting the Wood from the Trees
A GAME for 2, 3 or 4 players.

Preparation:
Every player needs a forest of trees board and some stumps
cards (the small ones). Cut up a forest of trees board to provide
extra trees if required.

How to Play:
Pick up the set of situation cards (the big ones) and give them a
good shuffle. Place the cards face down and take turns to pick
one. Read out each card.

You have to cover a tree on your board with a stump card, when
you pick a deforestation card or take a stump off the tree for
protection cards. If you have no stumps on your board you can
take another tree card.The winner is the person with most trees
visible on their board at the end of the game.

The taking away of trees in forests is called deforestation. It is

happening to many of our precious tropical rainforests and trees
are also lost from the UK. There are many reasons why forests
are lost. This game will help you learn many of the causes of
deforestation and some of the bad effects of this such as fewer
habitats for animals. Other cards will tell you how forests can
bemanaged properly for sustainable development.

Here are the web sources (not updated from 2011) used for the
card information:
www.mongabay.com
www.rainforestfoundationuk.org
www.globaltimber.org.uk
news.bbc.co.uk/environment
www.nationalgeographic.com
www.rainforestconcern.org/rainforest_facts
www.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/deforestation1.htm
http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf
Your forest of trees

http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf
Your tree stumps

http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf
Situations cards
An area of forest in Costa Rica is
cleared to make way for farming
with a new coffee plantation. They
are going to use “slash and burn”
techniques as they want the land
quickly.
Lose 2 trees
A small village in Tanzania need
to raise some money to buy a new
water pump. The village elders have
agreed to lose an area of forest as
the illegal commercial loggers have
offered them money for this.
Lose 3 trees
A new satellite system is being
used to make sure no illegal loggers
are operating in the Amazon
rainforest.
Gain a tree
Sustainable logging is used in
Sweden so that any trees that are
cutdown are replaced with new ones
for future generations.
Gain a tree
http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf
The population of Semarang in
Central Java has increased in
the last 10 years and they need
to clear a forest area to make
way for a new settlement.
Lose 2 trees
There is a national park in Sabah,
Malaysia on the island of Borneo
to protect trees. It preserves the
habitat of the proboscis monkey.
Gain a tree
A big tax has been put on importing
some hardwood trees into the UK.
This means it is too expensive to
use and not many people will buy
hardwood furniture and fewer
hardwood trees will be cut down.
Gain two trees
China is a fast growing economy.
To fuel its new industries it has a
high demand for wood and is linked
with illegal logging.
Lose a tree
Situations cards
A large area of forest was cleared in
Guyana for the mining of gold. One
billion gallons of waste water with
cyanide (used to help separate gold
from the rock) leaked and polluted
drinking water, killed animals and
plants and destroyed farmlands.
Lose 3 trees
Selective logging is used in
Western Canada. Only some of the
trees in the forest are felled like the
old ones. Helicopter logging is used
which lift and drag the felled trees
out carefully.
Gain a tree
Epping Forest is the largest open
space in the London area. An Act
of Parliament passed in 1878 by
the Corporation of London took control
for protecting the trees. These
trees help to take away carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere
and reduce global warming.
Gain a tree
The World Bank lent money to
Nigeria to fund a development
scheme but now it has to pay it
back. It is allows logging to make
money for this.
Lose 3 trees
http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf
People in England are being
educated to tell them the impact
that their use of paper has on
forests and they are using less.
This means that more trees survive.
Gain a tree
Ecotourism to the forest areas of
Kenya provides money so that
local people don't have to sell their
trees. It helps sustainable
development.
Gain a tree
In West Yorkshire, trees are being
pulled down to build roads for
access to a new housing estate as
the population in the area is
growing fast.
Lose a tree
The tree canopy in Brazil has been
cut back and more flooding might
take place. There is less leaf fall so
the soil quality is poorer.
Lose 2 trees
Situations cards
A Swiss company worked to find
new exotic smells in Madagascan
forests and shared the profits with
local communities for conservation
and development initiatives.
Gain 2 trees
Indonesia has a ban on exports of
Merbau. It is a valuable dark
hardwood used to make floor and
outdoor furniture. Illegal exporters
used false documents to smuggle
the rainforest timber into Singapore.
Lose 2 trees
In Tobago the rainforests are
protected and local people help
patrol the areas. This is called
community surveillance. While
looking after the trees, the locals can
make money by selling handicrafts.
Gain a tree
The habitat of the mangrove
hummingbird is reducing in numbers
in Costa Rica. Since 1980 1/5 of the
world's mangrove trees have been
cut down for coastal development.
Lose 2 trees
http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf
A mining group has been making
plans to build a massive titanium
mine in a Cambodian protected
forest. Rural villagers have seen
bulldozers and trucks building
access roads. There is fear for the
ecosystems of the Cardamom
Mountain
Lose a tree
The Surui tribe in the Amazon
thought up a plan so that they get
rewards for protecting their
rainforest from ranchers. Some US
states may help to finance this.
Gain a tree
The Coalition for Rainforest
Nations was set up to help protect
rainforests. It started in Papua New
Guinea.
Gain a tree
Native tribes in Peru are forced to
move from their natural home when
trees and land are cleared.
Lose a tree
Blank Situations cards to add infomation you find to the game

Gain 2 trees Lose a tree

Lose 2 trees Gain a tree

Gain a tree
Gain a tree

Lose 2 trees Lose a tree

http://www.collaborativelearning.org/sortingthewood.pdf